Of Hope and tragedy
by AlexSnape-36
Summary: All his life Severus snape has only truely wanted one girl. Finally, during his third year of Hogwarts, he get another chance with her. But after everything that has happened, will he take it? Or more importantly, can he save her from herself?
1. Chapter 1

Prolog: Shadows

Disclaimer: None of the Harry Potter elements or characters belong to me. Chances are there will be a few other things that don't belong to me. Everything else does. Thanks!

The crackling old brick fireplace casts shadows around the small room, allowing the young man who was chained to the bed to study his surroundings. The walls were a dark maroon color, clashing painfully with the filthy, bright green carpet. A tattered, light blue armchair sat in the corner, and a dirty apricot-colored dresser was pushed against the opposite wall. An old, broken mirror hung on the wall above his head. He was lying on a bumpy, uncomfortable bed, his hands tied to either side of the head board, which seemed to be made of some sort of dark wood. His smooth, bare chest had a strange dark bruise between his ribs. He couldn't remember taking his robes off, but he silently thanked Merlin that he was only half nude. Whoever had left him like this had left his pants securely fastened. His socks and shoes, however, were also missing, and he had a splitting headache. His shoulder length black hair clung to his sweaty forehead. The room was humid and stifling. He pulls at his wrists and pushes against the bed with his bare feet, trying to get up. Panic rises in his chest as the ropes refuse to budge.

"Hello?" he croaks out, his voice low and rough. "Is someone there?"

He jerks harder at the ropes, squirming now, trying to find a weak spot. Where the bloody hell was his wand?

"That won't do you any good. The ropes are magically binding." A soft female voice informs him as she enters the room. The woman's long, straight auburn hair fell gracefully around her shoulders, making her bright green eyes stand out and complimenting the sharp lines of her face. Cordelia had always been more elegant that her, and suddenly he missed her with a passion.

"Lily?" he breathes in confusion, yanking at the ropes one last time.

"Hello, Severus." She smiles, tossing his wand and clothes onto the chair before sitting down at the foot of the bed.


	2. Crushed

Chapter One: Crushed

The hot summer sun beat down on the small gathering of friends relaxing just outside of the white, two-story, old Victorian style house. Three women and two men sat around a small white table on the patio, drinking tea while their children played in the yard. One of them, a woman with a thin face, dark brown eyes, and long, straight black hair, was starting to look rather uncomfortable under the scrutiny of her friends. Her name was Eileene Snape, and she was the only one whose husband hadn't bothered to show up. Astoria Renee Morgan, a tall, petite woman with bright red hair and grey eyes, had been Eileene's best friend ever since their fifth year of Hogwarts, and needless to say, she wasn't happy about the brutality Eileene's husband displayed…particularly around Eileene and her six year old little boy, Severus who was huddled silently under a tree watching the other two children, Cordelia "silver" Morgan and Conner White, who were arguing about how their "wedding" should go.

The tall man with curly dark hair and green eyes was Cordelia's father, Devin, and the blonde couple on his right were Conner's parents, Sara and Thomas white. Devin, Thomas and Liam, who was absent at that particular moment, had also been friends since their Hogwarts years. As a matter of fact, it was thanks to their husbands that the women had met and became friends to begin with.

They had all decided that an intervention on Eileene's behalf was in order. She deserved better than that controlling, abusive husband of hers, Tobias. Eileene, however, was refusing to cooperate.

"Whom I choose to spend my life with is none of your business! Tobias is Severus's father!" Eileene insists. "Anyways, it's not as though he means the things he says…he always comes back and apologizes."

"And that bruise you're trying to cover up with make-up?" Sarah snaps, "Did he apologize for that, too?"

"That was an accident! He lost his temper!" Eileene objects.

"If you don't be careful, we could lose our friend." Astoria insists calmly, "You know it's not good for Severus to be around all of that violence, let alone for you to put up with it. You should have left him the moment he snapped your wand!"

"Look, Eileene, Astoria is right." Devin cuts in, "It's obvious to all of us that you're afraid of Tobias. If you would just give Liam, Thomas, and I half an hour alone with him we would personally make sure he never hurt you or your son again."

"You'd better not gang up on him! Talk about violence! I love Tobias! I'm not afraid of him!" Eileene snaps defensively, "Most of the time I deserve his anger…"

Devin sighs in defeat before softly declaring, "I will not have Tobias around my wife or daughter. He is not welcome at this house."

"You and Severus, however, are welcome here any time, Eileene." Astoria adds quickly.

Eileene makes a sharp clicking sound with her tongue before replying, "And you accuse my husband of being controlling? Looks like you need to fix what you've got at home before jumping into someone else's business!"

"I would never hurt my wife or my daughter!" Devin snaps, outraged, "I would never threaten them or hit them! Astoria is my equal! I'm just trying to protect my family!"

"Or are you forgetting" Astoria pushes, "that I still have my wand?"

* * *

Severus watches Cordelia closely. Her every movement was graceful…like a princess from one of the fairytales his mum likes to read him, or a goddess from Greek mythology. Her long red hair fell softly to just below her shoulders, and her deep green eyes were lit up like fire. She was beautiful…like a storm…especially when she was angry. He liked watching her get mad at Conner. It was always funny. Cordelia and Conner were pretending to get married, and Conner didn't want Cordelia to have her blanket in the wedding. Cordy loved her blanket. It was white with lavender edges and had little blue pixies flying around on the white part. She took it with her everywhere. If he were marrying her, he would let her have her blanket in the wedding.

"You can't be carrying a blanket when you get married!" Conner snaps at her.

"Why not?" Cordelia demands, clutching her blanket defensively, "Momma gave it to me! It's a good blanket to have in a wedding! It's pretty!"

"Yeah, but you're supposed to be holding flowers, not a blankie! Don't you like flowers? Conner pushes.

"I like carnations…" She answers hesitantly, refusing to loosen her hold on her blanket.

"See? Wouldn't rather have flowers than a stupid blankie?" Conner points out, thinking he'd won.

"No!" She yells at him, "It's not either stupid!"

Severus smirked to himself and stood up, confidently walking up to them. If he let her have her blanket in the wedding, she would marry him instead of Conner. Conner didn't deserve her anyways. Severus deserved her. Severus would let her have anything she wanted.

"You should marry me instead of him. I would let you have your blanket in our wedding." He tells her smugly.

"Yeah? Well, she's not marrying you! She's marrying me!" Conner snaps at him.

"She's a girl; she can marry who ever she wants!" Severus counters.

Cordelia studies him curiously, a slight defensiveness about her. She had tried to get Severus to play with them before now, but he never wanted to. He never talked to her. Maybe they should let him play, too…

"Why would she want to marry you? You're ugly and you can't love her!" Conner smirks, "You don't know how!"

"I do so know how! I already love her! That's why I would let her keep her blanket!"

"You do not know how! My momma says your dad hates you and your mum loves him more than you, so you'll never know how to love anybody!" Conner smirks.

"My parents do so love me! Severus objects, "Your mum doesn't know anything! She's stupid!"

"She is not! She knows everything! Just like she knows you're gonna be an orphan!" Conner continues smugly as a pained expression flickers over Severus's face. "Your momma and daddy hate you so much that my mom says your dad is gonna kill your mom and then you'll be sent away forever, cuz nobody could ever love someone like you! Especially not Silver!"

"I am not gonna be sent away! Your mom is a liar, and you're the one who doesn't know anything about love!"

"I know when you love someone you're s'posed to always be there for 'em. I'll always be here to take care of silver. Since you're being sent away all by yourself, you won't be. She wouldn't want to marry you!" Conner insists.

"I know when you love someone you don't make them give up stuff they like!" Severus turns his attention to Cordelia, "If you marry me instead of him, I'll let you keep your blankie!"

He couldn't take her blankie away from her! Her mum gave it to her! "I'm marrying Conner and keeping my blankie anyways! You can't stop me!" Cordelia snaps.

"See? Told you nobody loves you!" Conner says victoriously.

Cordelia lays her blankie neatly next to a tree before turning back to Conner. "Come on, Conner. We can go get married in the garden where all the pretty flowers are, and then come back for my blankie." She grabs his arm and pulls him away from the tree and towards the garden.

Severus glares at their retreating backs, fighting back tears. He wouldn't cry. Not here. They were just lousy gits anyways. He turns and starts to go back to the tree he was sitting under earlier, but the blanket catches his attention. She'd be sorry she didn't pick him. He could take it and make her think Conner took it, and then give it back to her when she started to like him more than Conner. Then she'd love him!

He grabs the blanket and stuffs it under his oversized shirt as his mom calls his name, telling him it was time to go. He didn't want to go home, but he didn't want to stay here anymore either. A single tear falls down his face as he reluctantly follows his mother away from the Morgan estate.

* * *

"Mummy, I can't sleep," Cordelia complains, walking into the parlor barefoot, dressed in her lavender colored night gown.

"What's wrong, Cordy?" Astoria asks softly, "Did you have a bad dream?"

"No, I can't sleep 'cause I can't find my blankie you gave me." She answers as Devin pulls her into his lap.

"Where did you last see it?" He asks her.

"I laid it by a tree so me and Conner could go get married in the garden. That other boy, the one who never talks to me, was there. He wanted to marry me first so he and Conner got into a fight. I think he stole it." She explains in distress.

"Why would Severus want to steal your blanket?" Devin asks. He had always tried to teach her not to make unfounded accusations.

"I think he was mad at me for marrying Conner instead of him." She answers.

"I don't think Severus would steal your blanket just because you were playing with Conner." Astoria points out.

"I can't find it!" Cordy insists.

"Well, Silver, why don't you sleep with my cloak tonight, and I will help you find your blankie tomorrow." Devin suggests.

Cordelia used to love sleeping with her father's cloak. It smelled like him and made her feel safe. The main reason Astoria had bought the blanket was to get Cordy out of the habit of sleeping with Devin's cloak.

"Ok," She agrees, "I can sleep with your cloak, Daddy."

He kisses her on the forehead as Astoria wraps her up in his jacket.

"Mummy?"

"Hmm?"

"How come you call me Cordelia and everyone else calls me Silver?" She asks, her eyes closing as she cuddles up to her father.

"I don't know…I've always liked the name Cordelia. It's pretty. Just like you." Astoria answers. "Do you want me to call you Silver?"

"No, I like that you call me Cordy." She smiles sleepily. A few minutes later she speaks up again. "Is it true that nobody loves Severus and his daddy is going to kill his mummy and send him away?"

"Who told you that?" Devin asks sharply.

Cordelia opens her eyes and looks up at him. "Conner said his mum told him…is everything ok, daddy? Is Severus going to get hurt?"

"No, I don't think so." Devin answers, choosing his words carefully. "Conner's mum is just worried about Severus' mum. People sometimes say foolish things when they get worried or upset. Mummy and I love Severus, and I'm sure his parents love him, too. Severus will be just fine, ok?"

"Ok…"


End file.
